In presenting this post, I felt as I often have in the past, that EVERY thought and word should be ‘dipped in highlighter’… and personally absorbed, lived, internalized, appreciated as sound, irrefutable truth / perfect counsel as if from the Savior, Himself. It gets no better than these words of an Apostle of the Lord (Elder Neil L. Anderson) sustaining the Prophet of God, President Russell M. Nelson. Please…PLEASE, do yourself a favor… watch, read, listen to the complete talk; ‘The Prophet of God’, and reread it again periodically, to keep perspective away from the worlds nonsense. The first two thirds of the talk are as high impact as this last third, given here. (k)
Elder Neil L. Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said….
Don’t Be Surprised
The prophet’s voice, while spoken kindly, will often be a voice asking us to change, to repent, and to return to the Lord. When correction is needed, let’s not delay. And don’t be alarmed when the prophet’s warning voice counters popular opinions of the day. The mocking fireballs of annoyed disbelievers are always hurled the moment the prophet begins to speak. As you are humble in following the counsel of the Lord’s prophet, I promise you an added blessing of safety and peace.
Don’t be surprised if at times your personal views are not initially in harmony with the teachings of the Lord’s prophet. These are moments of learning, of humility, when we go to our knees in prayer. We walk forward in faith, trusting in God, knowing that with time we will receive more spiritual clarity from our Heavenly Father. One prophet described the incomparable gift of the Savior as “the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father.”15 The surrender of our will to God’s will is, in fact, not surrender at all but the beginning of a glorious victory.
Some will try to overly dissect the prophet’s words, struggling to determine what is his prophetic voice and what is his personal opinion.
In 1982, two years before being called as a General Authority, Brother Russell M. Nelson said: “I never ask myself, ‘When does the prophet speak as a prophet and when does he not?’ My interest has been, ‘How can I be more like him?’” And he added, “My [philosophy is to] stop putting question marks behind the prophet’s statements and put exclamation points instead.”16 (see below) This is how a humble and spiritual man chose to order his life. Now, 36 years later, he is the Lord’s prophet.
Increasing Your Faith in the Savior
In my personal life, I have found that as I prayerfully study the words of the prophet of God and carefully, with patience, spiritually align my will with his inspired teachings, my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ always increases.17 see below If we choose to set his counsel aside and determine that we know better, our faith suffers and our eternal perspective is clouded. I promise you that as you remain resolute in following the prophet, your faith in the Savior will increase.
The Savior said, “All the prophets … have testified of me.”18
A prophet does not stand between you and the Savior. Rather, he stands beside you and points the way to the Savior. A prophet’s greatest responsibility and most precious gift to us is his sure witness, his certain knowledge, that Jesus is the Christ. Like Peter of old, our prophet declares, “[He is] the Christ, the Son of the living God.”19
In a future day, looking back on our mortality, we will rejoice that we walked the earth at the time of a living prophet. At that day, I pray that we will be able to say:
We listened to him.
We believed him.
We studied his words with patience and faith.
We prayed for him.
We stood by him.
We were humble enough to follow him.
We loved him.
I give you my solemn witness that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, and that President Russell M. Nelson is His anointed prophet upon the earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. ~ Again, Elder Neil L. Anderson’s complete talk is found at: ‘The Prophet of God’
References:
16. Russell M. Nelson, in Lane Johnson, “Russell M. Nelson: A Study in Obedience,” Ensign, Aug. 1982, 24;Tambuli, Jan. 1983, 26.
17. President Henry B. Eyring said: “Another fallacy is to believe that the choice to accept or not accept the counsel of prophets is no more than deciding whether to accept good advice and gain its benefits or to stay where we are. But the choice not to take prophetic counsel changes the very ground upon which we stand. It becomes more dangerous. The failure to take prophetic counsel lessens our power to take inspired counsel in the future. The best time to have decided to help Noah build the ark was the first time he asked. Each time he asked after that, each failure to respond would have lessened sensitivity to the Spirit. And so each time his request would have seemed more foolish, until the rain came. And then it was too late” (“Finding Safety in Counsel,” Ensign, May 1997, 25).
